The next iteration in the growth of 'The Ultimate Fighter' series was announced Thursday when the UFC made official the news that 'The Ultimate Fighter: Latinoamerica' was set to begin recruiting talent and filming. The news was announced to Spanish-speaking media on both a conference call and via press release.

According to the release (and further details provided by Indiscrutido), filming will begin in the Spring of 2014 and the show will be filmed in the 'Ultimate Fighting Training Center' in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The show is open to residents of the following 19 Latin America countries: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. Applicants must speak Spanish and have three professional fights to their career provable by public record. They must also be between the ages of 21 and 34.

"Latin America has become an enormous market for the UFC and we are excited to take it to the next level with The Ultimate Fighter," said Dana White, President of the UFC. "After the success of launching the UFC Network and the tremendous growth of our fan base, our focus now consists in finding and developing the best talent in the market. We want to find the next star, the next fighter that will do what Anderson Silva did for Brazil. We want to offer the fans a homegrown hero."*

Applicants can apply at UFCEspanol.com. There is reportedly no weight class restrictions in terms of existing UFC weight classes, meaning applicants may be as light as flyweight to apply.

The program will air on the UFC Network and other television stations throughout the region, although UFC has not specified which at the time of release.

Coaches for the upcoming season have also not been named.

*A similar quote was given to English-speaking media, but atttributed to UFC Senior Vice President of International Development and General Manager of Latin America Jaime Pollack. The quote above was translated from Spanish from the press release sent to Latin American media.